Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 May 1892 — Republiean Tax Conspiracy. [ARTICLE]

Republiean Tax Conspiracy.

Elsewhere will be found a compilation of the taxes levied for state and local purposes by counties. It sustains the accusations that the Republican managers conspired with the Republican boards of county commissioners to make the law odious by raising unnecessary revenues. The exact amount of the taxes assessed for 1890 and 1891, the increase or decrease, the amount of increase of state taxes, and the increase of railroad taxes are presented in a tabulated form. The names of the counties having Republican commissioners when the assessments were made are printed in small capitals, and a glance through the table will show that opposite nearly every small capital uame there is a heavy increase of local taxes. It happened, curiously enough, that exactly one-half the counties had Republican commissioners, and. one-half Democratic. In the forty-six Republican counties there is a total increase of taxes of $1,865,030.84, of which $606,755.18, or less than one-third, is local taxes. In the fortysix Democratic counties the total increase is only $1,134,251.42, of which $624,792.60 is state taxes, and $510,468.82 local taxes. Of the latter amount it will be noticed that $297,150.92 occurs in Miami county, and $213,291.90 in the other Democratic counties. We shall show hereafter that most, if uot all, of this was due to increased levies made by Republican township trustees, town boards, and school hoards in Democratic counties.

The tax law has nothing to do with the increase of local taxes which are fixed entirely by local officials. The increase of state taxes is slightly greater in, the Democratic comities than in the Republican counties, because the assessment of the former increased more. The increase of assessment in the forty-six Democratic counties was from $418,422,117 in 1890 to $625,057,725 in 1891, or $206,635,608. in the Republican counties it was from $430,252,270 to $630,198,313, or $190,946,043. If the increase of taxes were due to the law there would, of course, be a greater increase of taxes in the Democratic counties than in the Republican counties, but in fact they are $730,779.42 less. In the statement of state taxes the state school tax is not included because it is in fact a local tax. The state does > not receive one cent of it, but it is apportioned out to the counties for the support of the schools, and the local school taxes shotihj have been decreased to the same extent that fTie state school tax was increased. Notification of this was given throughout the state by the superintendent of public instruction before the taxes were levjod. The actual increase of taxes paid by railroads is $987,203.28, having increased from $1,093,936.78 for 1890 to $2,081,140.06 for 1891. The increase of assessment for state purposes is $1,230,547.73, but deducting from this the usual delinquency the amount actually paid would be $1,069,772.23. Of this sum, therefore, the railroads alone will pay all but $82,568.95, and the increase jn the other corporations will much more than cover that amount. As to railroad and state taxes the counties divide into four groups. In the nine Democratic counties of Cass, Clark, Dubois,-Franklin, Jackson, Miami, Pike, Scott and Wells, and the Republican county of Steuben, there has been a decrease of total taxes paid. In the four Democratic counties of Bartholomew, Hancock, Martin and Warrick, and the Republican county of Montgomery, the increase of railroad taxes is greater than the total increase of taxes, and hence the people pay less. In the seven Democratic counties of Dearborn, Laporte, Marshall, Owen, Posey, Pulaski and Starke, and in the twenty-three Republican counties of Benton, Fayette, Fountain, Hendricks, Henry, Jasper, Jay, Jennings, Kosciusko. Bakey, Lawrence,* Morgan, Newton, Orange, Parke, Porter, Randolph, Rush, Tippecanoe, Union, Vermillion Warren and Wayne, the increase on railroads is greater than the increase of state taxes, and in tjiese there would have been a decrease of total taxes paid by individuals if the local taxes had not been increased. In the remaining counties the increase on railroads is less than the increased state tax, and as there is no convenient way of ascertaining the increase of taxes on the other corporations, no one can say in how many of them there should lave been a decrease of total taxes. The results as to railroads alone, however, are sufficient to demonstrate the excellent character of the law, and to show up the Republican local officials who have needlessly'.iaken over $1,500,000 from the pockets' oE the people of Indiana in order to prejudice them against the new tax law. There is reason to believe that this was suggested to them by the ' corporation people who desire the repeal of the law.